Robert McKinley, Senior Analyst/Editor
Robert McKinley is an analyst of the payments industry on a daily basis for 32 years covering payment cards and payment systems from both the business side and the consumer side. McKinley is the retired founder and chief executive of RAM Research, CardWeb and CardTrak. In his prior position, McKinley has participated in more than 10,000 documented news media interviews, testified as an expert witness in two separate $billion+ U.S. anti-trust trials, testified before the U.S. Congress, assisted the GAO with paymentsIMG_2006 (1).jpeg reports, chaired numerous business conferences and provided C-Suite opinion to a multitude of Fortune 500 companies. In retirement, he has continued developing and funding digital media assets as well as contributing payments related analysis/content to a broad list of online publishers, including CardFlash, CardTrak and CardData. McKinley is also a national certified mentor with the non-profit SCORE organization with a focus on assisting Fintech startups. www.robert-mckinley.com

Verifone has added another gizmo to its mobile point-of-sale (mPOS) portfolio. The new Verifone e265 offers independent and micro merchants the flexibility to accept all major payment types and integrate with smart devices for value-added commerce capabilities.

Munich-based Giesecke & Devrient (G&D) has inked a deal with Aeris, a specialist in the Internet of Things (IoT) market and Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications. The wide range of M2M devices includes POS.

Los Angeles-based Allied Wallet has the something in common with Democratic White House contender Hillary Clinton. Allied’s CEO Andy Khawaja met with Hillary Clinton to share their affinity for entrepreneurs.

Total U.S. gross accounts (GAC) in the third quarter (3Q/15) for Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover was up 7.1% year-on-year (YOY). At the end of 3Q/15, there were 491.0 million U.S. credit GAC compared to 458.3 million for 3Q/14.

International purchase transactions (PTX) for Visa and MasterCard credit and debit cards grew by 18.0% year-on-year (YOY) in the third quarter (3Q/15). International PTX for credit cards increased 11.9% YOY while international PTX for debit cards soared 28.9% YOY in 3Q/15.

Singapore-based United Overseas Bank (UOB) has become the first bank in Asia-Pacific region to implement the Visa Token Service. The bank is integrating the Visa Token Service as part of its digital wallet UOB Mighty.